**3. Contracts consisting partially of services**

The UAGCL does not apply to mixed contracts as the case under the CISG, under which the seller provides goods and services. Nevertheless, by inference, these can be treated as unitary contracts rather than separate sales and services contracts [3], and the UAGCL will apply to both parts. This provision further restricts the meaning of 'goods', excluding contracts 'in which the preponderant part of the obligations of the party who furnishes the goods consists in the supply of labour or other services'. The issue of whether software is a good is once again illustrative.

In modern commerce, an important point, not yet resolved by the OHADA Uniform Act on General Commercial Law, is whether computer software may

<sup>4</sup> Article 30 UAGCL.

constitute 'goods' within the meaning of Article 234 para. 1. Software is normally embedded in some physical form, such as disks or as part of a package in which it is sold along with computer hardware, that is, computers or computer parts. Therefore, it could be considered as a tangible object capable of it being possible to be transferable. This raises an argument in trying to understand why such an item cannot be considered as a 'good' under the Uniform Act. It could without any doubt be covered by the OHADA Uniform Act because such a good is being able to be transferred to another person in a contract of sale in its physical form. Again, there is probability that a disk be physically defective due to a virus for example. In this case, the seller should be liable as the seller of a physically defective car.

Under French law, goods are known as *marchandises*. This simply entails a collection of movable assets forming the subject-matter of a contract of sale. This is actually an element of *fond de commerce*. From this standpoint, there is one clear limit: this meaning will not include any form of immovable property in a contract of sale. Consequently, it can be inferred from the meaning of Article 235 para. 1 UAGCL that it limits the meaning of goods to movable property by its reference to *commerçants*. The meaning of 'sale of goods' limits the very meaning of 'goods'. Also, this would mean that no sale with a non-trader is of a 'good'. The general approach that is adopted under the Uniform Act is to apply the OHADA Uniform Act to the *commerçant* and not to *non-commerçant*.
